An Army dog handler was convicted yesterday of torturing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. But for all it’s going to do to stop torture in the future, the Army might as well have convicted the dog.
The horrifying photographs out of Abu Ghraib revealed a level of prisoner mistreatment that has no place in a civilized society — certainly not in a prison operated by the United States, which prides itself on holding the moral high ground. We’d like nothing more than to dismiss the situation as the product of a few overzealous soldiers, but it’s clear that the responsibility for abuse lies higher on the chain of command. The administration and military leadership may not have openly directed Army units to abuse their prisoners so appallingly, but they certainly didn’t do anything to stop it.
Even worse, it’s become clear that Abu Ghraib was just the tip of the iceberg for the Bush administration. Whether it’s the extradition of interrogation subjects to secret prisons in Eastern Europe or the indefinite detainment of “enemy combatants” at Guantanamo Bay — which the administration continues to argue for in the courts — the evidence points to a leadership that cares little for protecting human rights and has no regard whatsoever for the provisions of the Geneva Conventions.
Even if we look past the fact that Abu Ghraib was a gross violation of accepted standards for the treatment of prisoners, we must still consider the significant damage that’s been done to the U.S. image in the Arab world. The war on terrorism is largely about perception; for one thing, Islamic extremists depend on a negative portrayal of America to fuel their mission and recruit new members. That’s why the prison scandal not only contributed to the general anti-American sentiment that goes hand in hand with being a world superpower, but also impeded our ability to fight the war on terror.
The message needs to be sent that the torture of prisoners under any circumstances is not acceptable — that the United States is above such disgusting behavior. Of course, the chances of this happening after President Bush vehemently resisted Congress’ anti-torture bill (and then insisted he had the right to ignore it) are slim. It seems we’ll just have to wait for a new administration to display the commitment to human rights that’s expected of us.
